“Through the eons, there have been many languages. These languages are the language of ancient mana, created from the greater truths.

After experiencing the passage of time, the language has been mostly forgotten and only a few of the older worlds still speak it.

But, there are still remnants in this lowborn world, remnants that formed a barely acceptable language that is now used as a foundation to empower objects and creatures.

This is the heralded craft of rune engraving.”

“Hmm. How does that work? Am I just engraving stuff?

This place is so busy as well. Nothing like the other places.”

“After a short walk from Death’s pass, our hero arrived in the most languished and extravagant building we’ve seen so far.

Gorgeous carvings on the walls, doorways, doors and every furniture. One can’t help but ask if they were intending on writing a story with a building as the canvas.”

“My eyes itch looking at some of these carvings.”

‘And this here is stool created by one of our rising apprentices. It has the effect of relaxation and could even strengthen the spirits in the long term.’

‘Ooooh. How marvelous. And this piece of here?’

‘What a good eye sir! This piece is actually a rather new one. Made by our prodigy rune carvers, Arailius.’

‘Hoh.’

‘Hehe. Our little Arailius is a bit spirited, sir. This has the effect to stimulating a certain something.’

‘Eh? You don’t mean…’

‘I’m sure the sir understands.’

‘Does it work for both males and females?’

‘Both of course. The piece is called: lovers fever.’

‘It is nearing my grandson's wedding, I’ll take it.’

‘Great choice, sir. Follow me.’

“All around the large extravagant room you can see wealthy men and women being guided through and introduced to the merchandise.”

“I thought this would be more about weapons than furniture, how strange.”

‘Oh does the young master of the Oh clan wish to browse our assortments of weapons?’

“Yoo! Ye, wait, not right now. Also I’m not exactly from the Oh clan.

I was planning on learning a bit of carving today.”

“The expression of the server falters for a second before he recovers.”

‘And do you have an appointment with one of the junior teachers?’

“No?”

‘I see, what is your name, if I may ask?’

“Ji, Ji aleksy.”

‘One moment, please.’

“The handsome young man quickly walks towards a door in the back and disappears behind it.”

“I don’t think this will go well.”

“beautiful furniture is scattered across the room. Every one of them carved with great care, the intricacy may be great but the true marvel of these creations are hidden.

Only after discovering the hidden words and phrases can you begin to decipher them. Making them almost impossible to replicate, at least for most amateurs.

It is a testament to the craft that so many people would be willing to browse and buy these structures, as only a beginners would use such large objects to carve on.

Real masters can not only carve on small objects such as watches, rings and earrings, they can even overlap some words and phrases, creating a multiplying effect.

This can be comparable to a formation master in many ways, except formation masters deal in less permanent ways than carving.

The main difference is that formation masters who specialize in small objects, use something called spiritual ink or mana ink to inscribe their formations. While those engraving masters use their carvings as vessels for empowerment.”

“Holy hell, man. You went on a rant there.

I´ve been wondering Narry, do some phrases or events trigger your responses?

I’m almost certain they do. However, sometimes I feel like you hold back.”

‘Sir. I am afraid you are not on the waiting list. Do mind if I ask who you came to meet?’

“Eh? Who? Hmm. Let me see.

No, I still haven’t gotten a more specific sub-quest.

Oh check this out, maybe this will help.”

|Death’s pass token|

‘Death’s pass token? I’ve heard of death’s pass, but what is this token?’

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“After talking to some of his colleagues, the server returns, much more respectful and guides our protagonist to a private back room.”

“Is this going to be as hard as the formation professions, Narry?”

“The silence violently echoes through the vacant room as our hero talks to his new imaginary friend, Narry.”

“Bah. Whatever. I think carving is going to be a problem though.”

‘Oh? You want to learn how to engrave runes? To learn the spirit languages? Yet you say carving is going to be a problem.’

“An eagle nose. Sharp eyes. This man deceptive appearance is most appropriate, like that of a predator.”

“Hi, I didn’t see you come in.”

‘Can I see your token, mister Ji.’

“Ye. Sure.”

‘So you do have a relationship with those two maniacs.’

“Deep in thought the man slowly examines the token, it gives of a fain green-blue fog that dissipates once a it reaches a few inches away from the token.”

‘They seem to value you highly, I wonder why.’

“Hehe. That old man was pretty happy, one of the most terrifying smiles I’ve ever seen.”

“Despite the man’s stern exterior appearance he eventually smiles a very small inconspicuous smile and throws a small scroll at our hero.”

‘See if you can understand this. You can call one of the junior apprentices to get me if you manage to translate it.’

“Before the man is halfway out the door our hero finished reading the tiny scroll.”

“Does it mean cold?”

“It is really unfortunate for this proud master engraver to have met this particular individual, called Ji Aleksy. One of the only remaining Betas.”

‘What did you say?’

“Cold, or more precisely ‘a little bit cold.’”

‘How extraordinary, I assume you haven’t studied the spirit languages, right?’

“This plebeian continues to call the ancient magic languages a spirit language, a true savage.”

“Not at all, no. This is my first experience with it.”

‘Alright, let’s not waste any more time.’

“Read this and then carve on this barrel?”

‘Please.’

“Alrighty.”

“With great ease our hero carves what can be described as a rune.

Any one of these so called runes can be modified in myriad of ways to alter its meaning. The complexity is towering for lowborn, such as humans.

And yet here we are, watching this blubbering fool eloquently carve an ancient rune with ease.

One can only curse the world.”

‘How extraordinary! Marvelous. A prodigy!’

“I think that’s it.”

‘I can understand those insane Death’s pass elder’s thoughts with far greater clarity now.’

“Hm?”

‘Did you promise that old hog anything?’

“Not really, no.”

‘Not really, or not at all?’

“Not at all, when I think about it, he just gave it to me in case I wanted to study alchemy.”

‘It would be a mistake! You have a great future ahead of you here at our Terror’s avenue.’

“Why is everything named in such a suspicious way?”

‘Young master, Ji. I would like to offer to take you in as my personal disciple.’

“Eh.”

‘If I do not suffice, I can talk to my master in your stead.’

“Mind if I check in with you in a few days? I still have a few places to visit.”

‘Of course. Here take this.’

“Oh cool. Now I got three contacts.”

“A master engraver’s personal contact frequency. If it wasn’t for our hero great ease in study of any profession, this frequency would be invaluable.”

‘Allow me to escort you out.’

“No need. Thank you for your assistance.”

‘It was my pleasure Ji. You can call me Asteri.’

“Okay, see ya, Asteri.”

“Even the gods would curse our hero’s nonchalant demeanor. No gratitude is received from the spoiled.”

“Huh, now that you mention it. You’ve mentioned a few gods. Are they real?”

“The sun has already begun its descent but our hero is not deterred as he journeys to his next destination.”

“It’s hard to be an atheist when you’ve got a talking voice in your head, mana coursing through your body and city filled with technology fueled by mana.

This city does give you that steampunk feeling. Without the steam.

I could eat. Never mind, it’s late. I’ll just eat some my snacks.”

“A well prepared adventured always has emergency supplies to increase his efficiency.”

“Oh. This is exactly what I needed! Clothing stores!”

“It is obvious that our hero’s next stop is a tailor’s workshop.”

“Relax, we’re not in a hurry, I can get out of these blue clothes.”

“With surprising tenacity our hero browses the wares of multiple stores, buying many different cosmetic clothing.”

“Clothes maketh man! Look at these threads, it’s be hard wearing all these unfashionable things. I prefer walking around naked.”

“Finally, we arrive in rather peculiar store. The variety and quantity have drastically reduced in comparison to its neighbors.”

“This places reminds me of that forge. Very few things.”

‘Can I help you?’

“A person half our hero’s size, wrapped in what looks to be linen has emerged from the backroom.”

“Ye, hi. I want to learn your craft.”

‘My craft?’

“Ye, its tailoring, right?”

‘I am afraid I am not qualified to teach.’

“Oh?

Anyone here that is?”

‘My creator.’

“This thing before our hero is a puppet of sorts. A being given live through fabric. Quite the accomplishment for the lowborn.”

“Can you take me to your creator then?”

‘Of course.’

“The creature may be intelligent but it is still lacking compared to even the most common human.”

“Stop using humans to compare things with. Who knows what an average human is like anyway.”

“The average human is quite intelligent in comparison to most other sentient beings roaming this world.”

‘I’m sorry, sir?’

“Nothing. Ignore me.”

‘This way, please.’

“Hooh. These expansion formations are really impressive.”

‘Who is it, Silk?’

‘Master! This one brought a customer as per his request.’

‘I told you to stop bringing people back here.’

‘I apologize master! This one awaits punishment.’

‘Forget it, just go back, it’s about time to close up the store.’

‘As you command.’

‘Well then, what do you want?’

“Hi! I want to learn your craft.”

“The woman’s voice is slightly muffled, she is clad from top to bottom. Not even the eyes are revealed.”

‘Do you now? My tailoring isn’t very popular with men.’

“I just need the very basics. I won’t bother you for too long.”

‘Well then. Stitch these together, read this.’

“Even without a guide, our hero would be guided through all these quests, it however allows him to further deepen his understanding of the craft.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“With a lack of enthusiasm, our hero reads the very short pamphlet. Afterwards he immediately starts channeling his mana into the needle and thread.

Like an experienced novice he begins sewing the materials together with confidence.”

‘Interesting.’

“Of the few masters our hero has come across, most have been very proud and unwilling to ask our hero study under them.

Only the shameless Asteri went so far as to offer to take him in as a disciple.”

“Ehrm. I think I botched it.”

“From an outside perspective, the garment looks to be without fault, yet to the more experienced it fails to meet the requirements.”

‘You lost connection to the thread. You can easily fix such a mistake by redoing this portion here. Just make sure you connect the thread properly.’

“Here?”

“After seeing the overdressed master tailor nod, Ji continues working on the odd garment.”

‘Excellent.’

“Is this okay?”

‘It will do. Do you plan on pursuing tailoring?’

“I was thinking about it; I’ll weigh the benefits versus the other professions.”

‘Feel free to come to me at any time.’

“Thank you, can I ask what your name is?”

‘You can just call me Primp.’

“Alright, thank you for you the assistance, Primp.”

“Will our hero continue with his crafting quest or find a place to lay his head for the night.”

“It’s still early, I can probably at least scout out the next place, right?

Plus, I already ate some of my snacks, can’t let it go to waste.”

“The next destination is mere minutes away, so we follow our hero who is carrying many bags of what he referred to as cool clothes.”

“I’m starting to think these professions are going to be too much effort. I don’t think I will make proper use of the ones that require a lot of tools.

I mean, I can’t carry a smelter, right?

Leatherworking also requires quite a bit of things to work the leather before using it.

Alchemy might be a bit more manageable. I can probably use the engraving anywhere as well, right?

Tailoring just requires threads. I wonder if I have to make my own thread at some point?

Most likely.”

“As the sky turns faintly orange due to the setting sun, we can hear the citizens enjoying themselves, some drinking for entertainment, while others enjoy various card games or sports.

And most importantly, we can hear the constant snapping of bow strings and arrows piercing their targets.”

“Oh? This is an archery? Do they make bows here?”